Quality Characteristics of Takju Prepared by Wheat Flour Nuruks

Quality characteristics of mash of takju prepared by wheat flour nuruks (conventional and improved style) were investigated during fermentation. Those were cultured with wild microorganism on whole and crushed wheat (wheat nuruk), wheat flour and mixture of rice and wheat flour, and nuruk cultured with Aspergillus oryzae on wheat flour. Ethanol content reached maximum of 10.6-17.4% after 14 days of fermentation. And the ethanol contents of takju were high in order of wheat nuruk, wheat flour nuruk, Aspergillus oryzae nuruk and mixture of wheat flour and rice nuruk. No difference of pH was among the treatments while the wheat flour nuruk cultured with wild microorganisms contained higher amounts of acids than the others. The amount of total sugars ranged from 16.22-17.74% on the starting day of fermentation, and decreased to 4.28-6.10% after 14 days. The amount of total sugars in mashes brewed with wheat flour nuruk cultured with Aspergillus oryzae was measured to be highest at the beginning stage of fermentation. Afterwards no difference was found among the types of nuruks. Glucose was in the range of 2,735-7,842 mg% at initial period of fermentation, afterwards it was rapidly decreased. The total amounts of free sugar for control and the wheat flour nuruk was higher than other treatments. The total amounts of organic acids were the highest in wheat nuruk to 690-2,241 mg% and the contents of lactic acid and succinic acid were high in mixed rice nuruk to 183-1,293 mg%. The contents of lactic acid and succinic acid were higher than those of the other kinds of organic acids in takju.